Box Score After trailing at the end of the first half, a strong second half team performance and 20 second-half points by Zoie Miller (SR/Frisco, Texas) propel the Wolf Pack past the Lady Toppers in the SSAC Game of the Week.
Looking to extend its two-game winning streak, the Loyola University New Orleans women's basketball team traveled to Blue Mountain, Miss., to face the Lady Toppers in the Southern States Athletic Conference (SSAC) Game of the Week on Saturday afternoon.
After being down a point at halftime, the Wolf Pack (7-3) put together a strong second half to pull out a 67-59 victory, grabbing its second conference win of the season in as many games. Blue Mountain falls to 0-8 on the season and 0-2 in the SSAC with the loss.
The Lady Toppers jumped out to a quick 14-3 lead at the 4:39 mark of the first quarter, knocking down six of their 10 early attempts compared to just 2-7 shooting for the visiting Wolf Pack at that point. But Loyola's shooting would keep the visitors in the game, as three long range makes, two by Paige Franckiewicz (SO/Slidell, La.) and one by Zoie Miller, would have the home team's lead cut down to 20-14 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Wolf Pack would continue fighting back, eventually tying the game at 22-apiece after Di'Mond Jackson (SR/Baton Rouge, La.) hit a floater with 5:14 to go in the second. After a closely contested next few minutes, Loyola was able to take its first lead of the game with a Franckiewicz jumpshot making the score 27-26 in favor of the visitors. Matavia Cox would hit a two-pointer to give the Lady Toppers a 28-27 lead heading into halftime.
At the half, Loyola had made 11 of its 29 attempts from the floor for 37.9%, including 5-13 (38.5%) from beyond the three-point arc. Blue Mountain enjoyed an advantage shooting from the field at 42.3% (11-26), but shot just 36.4% (4-11) from deep. The small difference in points came from the foul line, as the Lady Toppers converted two of their four shots from the line, while the Wolf Pack had no free throw attempts.
Jackson started off the second half well for Loyola, making a layup to give the visitors a 29-28 lead. The Wolf Pack would go on to outscore Blue Mountain 21-12 in the third quarter to take a 48-40 lead by the end of the period. After not logging a single free throw attempt in the first half, the Pack made it a priority to get to the line starting in the third quarter, going 4-6 from the charity stripe in the period. Miller went 3-4 on free throws in the quarter as she built another strong scoring performance, putting up 14 points by the end of the third.
The Wolf Pack would hold at least a five-point lead for most of the final period, even keeping an eight-point margin after a Zoie Miller free throw with 1:49 left in the game gave the visitors a 59-51 lead and gave Miller her 20th point. The Lady Toppers would cut the Loyola lead to just four points after a three-pointer from Raylin Starks made the score 59-55 with just 1:33 to go. But the Pack locked down on defense, with a steal by Miller with 44 seconds left forcing Blue Mountain to play the foul game for the last minute of crunch time. Loyola would extend its lead back to eight points with free throws, pulling out the 67-59 road win.
After scoring just six points in the first half, Zoie Miller finished with 26 points on 7-16 shooting (43.8%) as well as 4-7 (57.1%) from deep, making a three-pointer in each quarter, and 8-12 (75.0%) from the charity stripe. She also added two steals and six rebounds. The 26 points are a season high for any women's basketball player for the Wolf Pack this year, and it's Miller's third-straight game of 24 or more points, as well as her sixth 20-plus point performance this season.
Di'Mond Jackson finished second on the team with 12 points, grabbing six boards, three of them on the offensive glass. Jackson also dished out four assists, tied with Kaila Anthony (SO/Pflugerville, Texas) for most in the game for either team. Paige Franckiewicz and Breyah Richardson (SO/San Antonio, Texas) each added eight points.
As a team, the Wolf Pack shot 37.5% (24-64) from the floor compared to 38.9% (21-54) for the Lady Toppers, with the Pack hitting more shots overall and more three pointers, finishing 7-21 from long range compared to just 5-21 for the home team.
For the Lady Toppers, Emilee Murr finished with a team-high 16 points. Matavia Cox added 14 points, and Parrish Tice contributed 13.
The next game for the Wolf Pack comes on December 8 against NCAA DII Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., at 6 p.m.
